[syslinux] Advice/directions to users of Syslinux

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Dean Graff wrote:
> mkdiskimage -z -F binary.img 1000
> i="$(losetup -f --show binary.img)"
> j="$(kpartx -savu "${i}" | awk '{print "/dev/mapper/"$3 }')"
> mount "${j}" /mnt
> [...]
> umount /mnt
> syslinux "${j}"
> kpartx -d "${i}"
> losetup -d "${i}"
> kvm binary.img

I am collecting text for "What is a SYSLINUX disk ?" which brought
me to the topic of disk image files.
  http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/User:Scdbackup#Populating_disk_images_by_program_syslinux

Now i wonder why you take the effort with losetup and kpartx.

We know that mkdiskimage -z creates the partition at block 32.
So can't you just do:

  mkdiskimage -z -F binary.img 1000
  mount -o loop,offset=16384 binary.img /mnt
  ...
  umount
  syslinux --offset 16384 binary.img
  kvm binary.img

Did i miss something essential here ?
Would this work for you ?
(Older syslinux is said to have used option -o rather than --offset)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas